The burh of Wallingford and its context in Wessex
There are many reasons for holding that the 31 burhs listed in the Burghal Hidage constituted a system in its fullest sense. One of the most telling of these is that the burghal territories of these burhs – the areas assigned to them for their upkeep – form a spatial jigsaw whose individual elements interlock with each other within the shires or their precursors.
Raw Glass and the Production of Glass Vessels at Late Byzantine Apollonia-Arsuf, Israel
We suggested that the discovery of three raw glass furnaces at the site strengthens the assumption that the city was a major center for the making of both primary and secondary glass in the sixth and seventh centuries.
Jewish Communal Organisation in Sixteenth-Century Polish Towns
Therefore, this essay will deal not only with the structures of Jewish communal organisation proper, but also with the question of its emergence and development in the context of its non-Jewish environment.
Medieval Guildhalls as Habitus
This chapter will be concerned with the archaeological and theoretical interpretation of York’s medieval guildhalls.
Guilds in late medieval Flanders: myths and realities of guild life in an export-oriented environment
The opinion of historians on the social and economic role played by guilds in late medieval and early modern cities has changed considerably throughout the last century.
The Urban Structure of the Jewish Quarter of Girona
The studies that have been carried out to date on the tenth and eleventh-century Jewish community are rather few, in contrast to research done on the community in the twelfth century and thereafter, where documentary and archaeological sources abound.
From illicit usurers to magnificent statesmen: Florence’s dynamic perceptions of wealth, economics and banking from the 13th to the 15th century
Florence’s impact on the commercial revolution of late medieval and early Renaissance Europe was unique in several ways. A landlocked republic, by all appearances it would seem to have been at a geographical disadvantage compared to major port cities
such as Pisa, Genoa, and Venice, which participated in trade by both land and sea, across the Mediterranean and the Levant.
Reputation and Economic Performance: The Competitive Strategies of Medieval English Town
The focus of the research will be on evidence relating to London, Norwich, Great Yarmouth, Colchester, Exeter, Bristol, Leicester, Nottingham and York during the period 1250-1500.
Social Networking in Medieval Italian Towns
Lineage was the first form of social alliance, for blood was a guaranteed and undeniable bond. This alliance would then extend to non-kin but based on the same idea of unquestionable loyalty to the noble head.
The politics of factional conflict in late medieval Flanders
In his influential study on political factions in medieval Europe, Jacques Heers demonstrated the importance of factionalism in the political life of the middle ages, at the level of cities and regions as well as at the ‘national’ level.
The City of York in the time of Henry VIII
During this period, the role of the landed aristocracy was changing. With the creation of a professional standing army, in which soldiers were paid a wage, and the use of foreign mercenaries (think of the Swiss Guard), the traditional military function of the nobility receded.
Famine for Profit: Food Surpluses in Medieval Germany
A reading of Malthus’s text reveals that his argument was essentially religious—violation of his “principle” of population was a violation of god’s will…
The Social Stratigraphy of Coin and Credit in Late Medieval England
The money that the medieval English made conducted matters of state into the heart of society. The concerted quality of value – the fact that creating a currency connected public authority with every individual holding it – made that unavoidable.
The Hanseatic League of the Middle Ages
In the High Middle Ages, confederations of towns were the dominant characteristic of Germany, since the organization of the Empire was loose enough to allow a kind of independence to the growing cities.
The Paleodemography of the Black Death 1347-1351
The Black Death of 1347-50 has fascinated both researchers and lay people for over six hundred years1. The medieval epidemic had profound consequences both culturally and demographically and it did much to shape human history.
Medieval English Apprenticeship as Business Education
We have done medieval apprenticeship an injustice in conceiving it to be primarily a training in technical skill. Medieval apprenticeship attempted technical training in craft skill, but it also attempted much more.
Crafting the Merchant’s Wife’s Tale: Historians and the Domestic Rhetoric in the Correspondence of Margherita Datini (1360-1425)
Almost forty years ago, Iris Origo introduced the English-speaking public to Francesco di Marco Datini, the ‘Merchant of Prato’
The Colour of Money: Crusaders and Coins in the Thirteenth-Century Baltic Sea
Were coins actually perceived as coloured? Several studies have elucidated the idea that there are ways of perceiving, understanding and classifying colours other than in the modern western sense.
Leather and Leatherworking in Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York
The leather described here spans a range of 600 years and provides an insight into one of York’s principal trades during the Anglo-Scandinavian and medieval periods